Cabaret

February 14, 2018

A Valentine’s Day tradition at the CafeCarlyle,John Lloyd Young’s dreamy tenor conjures romance better than a box of chocolates. Some men just don’t get old: Dark glasses cannot hide John Lloyd Young’s dimple-chinned prom date good looks, but then again, his music does not age either. As he says about “Sherry” from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, before crooning “Sherrrrreee Baby,” some songs just follow you around. Ditto for his signature hits: “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” from the same songwriting team, and “Jerry Fuller’s “Show and Tell.” Exuding confidence, this “Jersey Boy” leaves the stage allowing his superior band: Tommy Faragher on piano, along with a cool Bashiri Johnson on percussion, and a nice touch, Gokce Erem on violin, to show their chops. Not only a sideman, Tommy Faragher is also a writing partner.The ensemble performed their “Slow Dawn Calling,” and“Almost There.”

December 17, 2017

For her new show at Joe’s Pub, the latest in her New Year’s tradition of guiding her fans into the future, Sandra Bernhard has turned “Sandyland” into “Sandemonium,” registering our current political times. As she told me in a recent phone conversation, her new Sandy show, from December 26 through 31, is a nod to craziness, and with the wisdom and sanity of someone who’s been here before, plus a touch of her signature sass and snark, her plan is to teach us how to escape despair and still have fun. “This too shall pass,” she consoles. “Trump’s not going to be president forever. We had Nixon. We had Attila the Hun, and humans lived through that.

November 10, 2017

Guitarist John Pizzarelli and singer Jessica Molaskey are man and wife, and married in music. Headlining the Café Carlyle this week, their act is a sublime mix called “The Little Things You Do Together” after a Stephen Sondheim tune; they perform standards such as Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields’ “A Fine Romance,” a Joni Mitchell favorite, “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” and Sondheim’s classic “Children Will Listen” and “Finishing the Hat.” Jessica sits back as John does “Baubles, Bangles, and Beads,” and then exclaims, “Now you know why we are together for 20 years. He had me at ‘baubles.’” Cute, yes, and their banter works as well onstage as it does on the radio, even when they plug their respective albums, such as her new “Portraits of Joni,” urging your purchase. (They have a kid in college.) Yes, they can sing!

October 21, 2017

A riveting, bejowled Woody Harrelson occupies the screen making LBJ something he wasn’t: a most charismatic president. Insecure, politically ambitious, Johnson became president under abject circumstances: the presidency was thrust upon him when JFK was assassinated. He wanted the job, but not that way. His personality, his conflicts with Bobby Kennedy, well played by Michael Stahl-David, and this liminal two-week period, form the core of Rob Reiner’s latest film, LBJ, from a script by Joey Hartstone. This week after a screening, Harrelson, Stahl-David, and Hartstone joined Reiner and Steve Schmidt for a panel at “21.” That Harrelson played Schmidt in the television movie Game Change became the inside joke of the lunchtime event. Then again, Harrelson is one of the great, most versatile actors of his generation. So yes, he can even play a Republican.

October 13, 2017

Rita Wilson brings charm, confidence, and the comforts of relaxing with a close girlfriend to her supper club act at the Café Carlyle. “Tonight is going to be about relief from the world,” she says, and you believe her, because her lively combination of country and rock music is appealing, and because with all her L. A. glamor, movie star allure—when she casually mentions her husband, she says “Picture Tom Hanks,” because he is, --she is grounded enough to know what you want.

October 04, 2017

Duncan Sheik, composer of the musical, Spring Awakening, a huge hit on Broadway in 2007, takes the Café Carlyle stage this week for a brief run of his original songs. You may remember, the musical is based on a 19th century play about teens discovering their sexuality, portraying rape, suicide and abortion. “If you think it gets more happy and exciting than this,” he said at the opening, after singing some rather eh, moody songs about “losses I must bear,” “don’t hold your breath.” He thanked the audience, including a friend who was celebrating his birthday, for allowing him to test this material, and never thinking he’d be nostalgic for the “halcyon days of the George W. Bush years,” he became political with “Star Field on Red Lines.”

September 27, 2017

Laura Osnes is the consummate performer for large Broadway musicals, and at the Café Carlyle this week, she scales back her American sweetheart persona to the intimate stage, accompanied by Ted Sperling’s piano and extensive lore, and scene partner Ryan Silverman, amping up her considerable charm. The program entitled “Cockeyed Optimists: The World of Rodgers and Hammerstein” pays homage to these masters of musical story telling with selections from Cinderella, South Pacific, Carousel, The Sound of Music, and Allegra, all songs wonderfully familiar, but at times strategically mashed up, so there is always an element of surprise, a great pleasure of this show.

September 07, 2017

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, partners in music and marriage for 43 years, still have that “Look of Love.” While he plays his sweet trumpet, bringing in the crowd at the Café Carlyle an entertaining night of his greatest hits, Lani Hall sits beside him, her big eyes trained on him, head and body grooving to his trumpet. Her crystalline vocals in Portuguese and Spanish perfectly put everyone in the Tijuana/ Jobim mood. “I love it when she talks to me in Yiddish,” he laughs, and their ensemble with Bill Cantos on piano, Hussain Jiffrey—from Sri Lanka-- on a six-string bass he can play like a guitar, and Michael Shapiro on drums create a musical dialogue all their own.

June 28, 2017

Sophie B. Hawkins is the real deal: she composes her own songs and sings her heart out. At Café Carlyle, she channels Janis Joplin, whipping her mane around for a medley of “Ball & Chain /Piece of my Heart,” and goes nasal for Bob Dylan’s “I Want You.” Promising only one cover, she performs George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and gives the stage to John DeLay, for a piano solo, and a nod to the American songbook. But mostly, her brief Carlyle tenure features her new stuff, and it is well worth the trip.